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The famous fashion designer Masaba Gupta was recently at Indore city to showcase her collections. Apart from her stunning designs, Masaba Gupta comes across as the girl next door, warm and full of life.

I caught up with her to know what sets her apart, her personality, and what career option would she have opted for if she wasn’t a fashion designer.

1. Your Designs Set You Apart From The Rest. Where Does Creativity Come From?

I don’t really think of setting myself apart from the rest, but when you are a creative person – it could be in any field and I believe whatever your conditioning is as a child and whatever environment you have grown up in I feel that it becomes a part of you. Basically, anyone from the creative field be it the artists, designers, or creative thinkers, if you have been born and brought up in a certain atmosphere that becomes your artistic conditioning.

So I grew up watching my mother dress up in really cool color-block saris. I always saw her cut things up, cut dupattas up, and make her unique thing out of it. She never wore clothes as they were because I feel she always wanted to add personality to that outfit.

I guess that’s where my aesthetics for designing started. My first collection was all about patchwork. The second collection was also patchworked but it had a little more to it including silhouette and cut. Something that I noticed as an artist now as I am progressing and growing is that who you are as a creative individual has a lot to do with your childhood. What I do is who I am and I guess that’s an expression of myself.

2. Not Only Your Designs But Your Personality Also Makes You Stand Apart From The Rest. Look At You, You Are Simply Dressed In The Most Casual Clothes Yet You Carry A Certain Sense Of Style. How Do You Manage To Look That Way All The Time?

I usually wear black and white or you will see me oversize clothes. I am a creature of comfort, I have to be comfortable and even on a date, I will be wearing something casual. So I think I am somebody who comes as I am. No flowery stuff no frills, because I see some people who are beautiful and conventional but then they seem so ugly and so cold because there’s no compassion in their heart. There is no empathy and that clearly comes across in how you treat people. So you see me as I am – I am very honest and straightforward.

3. Difficulties You Faced While Fulfilling Your Dreams And Aspirations.

Just been taken seriously is one of them, my parents felt that I had privileges, second is in fashion being taken as a businesswoman is hard because people think fashion is all about fun and games. Third would be retail, which was a big challenge trying to expand. Being creative is one thing, making clothes and going out to selling is another. The other thing I would say is people management because in fashion inherently you employ a large team, there are people who work at the back end who I don’t meet every day and they all come with a certain temperament and this is a huge challenge in any business.

I have a team of 150 people and they operate from Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and other cities and they don’t feel disconnected from me because they aren’t sitting in the same city or same office. Like my design team since I do meet them on a daily basis when I see their faces I know that today they are feeling cranky or have certain mood swings but I adapt to that, they adapt to me because they now know my moods.

4. Favorite Quote That Masaba Gupta Believe In?

Do not hold back your love, your joy and your exuberance only what you give becomes your quality not what you hold back – Satguru

5. If You Weren’t Into Fashion Designing What Other Career Option Would You Have Chosen?

I would be in marketing. I am better at marketing than I am a designer, which is why the label works. There are so many great designers out there but they don’t know how to put themselves out there. Or I would be a dancer. I dance really well.

I was having this conversation with a friend and we were like why do human beings have to stick to one thing. Why can’t we be fluid, maybe today I want to be a writer, tomorrow a dancer, or a stay-at-home mom? There are women who cook really well and they have made good business out of it as well. So never say never. Whatever I find exciting that comes on my way, calls to my spirit I will do it.

6. Message To Other Women Chasing Their Dreams.

I think with the given sudden environment of the Women in this country it’s so important to hold your head up high and be responsible for your voice. I keep saying this. It’s great to be a feminist. It’s great to be vocal about abuse and what happened with you and will be much better and stronger its if its streamlined instead of muscling in. That’s something that we as women need to be careful about.

A movement is not a trend; a movement is actually what it stands for it means to move things to make cultural changes. If that’s not happening and if it’s a burst of shame for people and that burst is pulled back and when people go back to their normal lives then it’s not a movement. Then I think we as women are responsible for that. Because we decide how we drive this. If its organized it will be a movement or else it will be meaningless.